Wedding Music Costs

[Scarlett]

Not sure what category to put this in, but if you had a choir perform at your wedding - 2 songs of your choice, one at the start and one at the end, plus 2 hymns, for an hour service, what would you think a reasonable cost would be?
The choir would need to arrange and learn the songs as well as travel to the venue and be there for the hour.

[Buenchico]

What type of choir? Half a dozen kids from the local church or a 200-strong adult choir which tours the world giving performances? It makes quite a big difference!

[fiction-factory]

If they are volunteers or the members do it for a hobby and live locally then they may not charge much. But a professional outfit would expect in the region of £40-£50 per member as a minimum I expect given that they would be tied up for half a day in effect with travelling and performing

[Scarlett]

Maybe 20 local amateurs of around 40-50 years old?

[Buenchico]

As a minimum, perhaps £500 (that's £20 per head for the hour, plus a fiver each travel costs, assuming that it's fairly local) if the choir are actively seeking new items for their repertoire, and new opportunities to perform (so that you don't get charged for rehearsals, etc). In practice, perhaps double that.

However it's really a 'how long is a piece of string' question. We've got an excellent community choir around here, which (based upon when I last saw them) has around 130 singers performing together, usually just on the basis of covering their expenses. Other choirs might expect the sort of payments, per member, suggested by F-F as a bare minimum (with additional money to cover arrangements and rehearsals).

Have you got a particular choir in mind or, if not, can you tell us which part of the country the wedding will be held in?

[Jackdaw33]

When I was organist at a minor parish church (ret. 2004) I got £50 per wedding and funeral, the latter I called my Ash Cash. Every day I was glued to the obituaries to see if another parishioner had fallen off the perch.

[jourdain2]

Our fees for the organist are £75. The singing group is made up of 10 enthusiastic, local amateurs (we're pretty good), but you're right to note that there is a lot of work involved, buying music, rehearsing and co-ordinating rehearsal time with the organist (not local, doesn't drive and has to be fetched and carried). We're just having to find £2,300 for servicing the organ as well. We would probably do it for about £10 each. I think that is very reasonable.

[DTCwordfan]

You could always hire me; with my singing, I'm far more effective at clearing a pub or any establishment of your choice than the fire alarm. Now if you want wedding stationery using your church, then that's a different matter, see Arts....